Happy Birthday in Heaven

When a loved one has died, it is always difficult to find a way to honor the person on special days, like birthdays. Well, my friends have made it easy. The Board of Directors of the Catie Hoch Foundation decided to separately establish a scholarship fund in memory of Larry. The plan is to award a $1,000 scholarship to a Shen graduating senior.

What I love about this scholarship is that it is not based on grades or even community service. It is based on character. We are looking for kids who are quietly making our world a better place, by caring about others, having compassion, and never giving up. It may be to a kid who stands up to bullies, or befriends someone who has no one to sit with at lunch. It may be a kid who can laugh at himself or who can stand up for himself and others.

You see, Larry was just an average student in high school. And yet he went on to graduate with honors from Notre Dame University, was second in his class at Suffolk Law School and earned a Master in Taxation at New York University. So even though he may not have qualified for a high school scholarship back then, he certainly laid the groundwork for the award in his name.

p.s. Larry and I were married and living in Brooklyn when he took the NYS Bar Exam. He had already taken the Massachusetts Bar and was working for the federal government, so he didn’t need NY, but he wanted to get it. Well, on one of the days that he took the exam, he bought a sandwich off the streets and it made it sick all afternoon. So when the results were mailed out, I was preparing my sympathy speech (you know – you weren’t feeling well, you can take it again, lots of people fail it the first time.) Well, I shouldn’t have wasted my time. He got one of the highest grades in the state. But he would never tell you that. Even I had to weasel it out of him.

I love this blog post for so many reaons. I love that there is a scholarship in Larry’s name, and I am thrilled at the requirements. How absolutely perfect! The fact that he was an “average” high school student who went on to do great things is so so insprirational to a mom with “average” students 🙂

Thank you Gina… and Happy Birthday to Larry! Cheers *clink*

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